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Message 4 of 1
I think Nokia makes great devices. It actually makes devices with awesome "phone" functionality. We have been carried away by the Droids and iPhones where the 'Phone' is just another application with sub-par performance. Nokia has not compromised this part. Having said that, I think Nokia has not learnt to play by the rules - here in the US. The kind of strenuous testing and customization that US carriers impose must have kept Nokia away from the states. I think it has now realized that if it needs to break into the US market, it has to play second fiddle to the carriers. Nokia is probably late but can still catch up. I don't buy the argument that S60 or S^3 is outdated. I know people (Europeans and Asians, of course)who simply love the Symbian OS and don't seem to care about the iOS and Android. Hopefully, MeeGo will bring the US audience in as well. Nokia is still the world leader in smartphones. It must be doing something right. Besides, a point about Nokia to be appreciated is that it hasn't jumped on the Android bandwagon. It has decided to take a short term hit in favor of long term gains. Developing the Ovi ecosystem will also benefit the company in the long run while Motorola and HTC will be crippled by their dependence on Android (and hence, Google). Nokia still needs to improve on some counts - it needs to start churning out devices at a faster rate in the US (look at the speed with which HTC and Motorola are putting out devices). It must work and come out with strong high-end smartphones with Verizon - without that, it won't be addressing 50% of the US market. Decision making in the company must be de-centralized from Finland - I say this because I worry if the Fins are still skeptical about the US carrier-centric model. Finally, it needs a heavy marketing push in the US. I can't emphasize this enough as a lot of people barely know about Nokia in the US. Millions need to be spent on an advertising campaigns throughout the year until the US public gets familiarized with the brand.
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